FLASHBACK:
KHARTOUM, Sudan - Police fired tear gas and beat women protesting outside a court yesterday during the trial of a female journalist accused of violating Sudan’s Islamic dress code by wearing trousers in public.
Why am I sensing an agent provocateur push (like gays here in AmeriKa)?
Police moved in swiftly and dispersed about 50 protesters, mostly women, who were supporting Lubna Hussein, a former UN worker facing 40 lashes on the charge of “indecent dressing.’’ Some of the women demonstrators wore trousers in solidarity with Hussein while others wore more traditional dress.
I knew it.
Trousers are considered indecent under the strict interpretation of Islamic law adopted by Sudan’s Islamic regime, which came to power in 1989. But activists and lawyers say the implementation of the law is arbitrary.
Hussein was among 13 women arrested July 3 in a raid by the public order police on a popular cafe in Khartoum. Ten of the women were flogged at a police station two days later and fined about $120.
Look, I'm not for FLOGGING ANYONE except WAR CRIMINALS, BANKSTERS and LYING LOOTERS! You know, those who actually deserve it; however, YOU SEE WHAT THIS IS, right?
But Hussein and two others decided to go on trial. She has sought to publicize her case internationally, inviting human rights workers, Western diplomats, and fellow journalists to witness her trial.
Uh-huh.
“I am not afraid of flogging. . . . ’’ Hussein said after the hearing yesterday.
She said that she would take the issue to Sudan’s constitutional court if necessary, but that if the court rules against her and orders the flogging, she was ready “to receive [even] 40,000 lashes.’’
Pretty BOASTFUL, isn't she?
You know, seeing as I am from a country that leads the world in battery, rapes, and domestic abuse, I really don't feel qualified to throw stones -- especially when being urged to do so by the agenda-pushing, Muslim-hating, war-promoting paper.
"In Sudan, woman jailed for wearing trousers; Refused to pay fine; faced public lashing" by Alsanosi Ahmed, Los Angeles Times | September 8, 2009
KHARTOUM, Sudan - A Sudanese woman was convicted yesterday of public indecency for wearing pants at an outdoor cafe and jailed for one month when she refused to pay a fine.
That's it? No beating?
Sympathetic Islamics? Who ever heard of such a thing?
The case has stirred international outrage and spawned protests in Sudan over the Islamic-dominated government’s treatment of women. Lubna Hussein, a journalist and former United Nations staffer based in Khartoum, the capital, could have received 40 lashes with a plastic whip under Sudan’s criminal code, which is based largely on Islamic Sharia law.
Instead, a judge ordered Hussein, who stood before the court in the same pair of pants she wore when arrested, to pay a $200 fine. Hussein said she would refuse to pay, and she was taken to a women’s prison to serve a one-month sentence. “If I paid, it would mean I’d lost the battle,’’ Hussein said after the verdict was announced. “I would rather serve my time in jail.’’
Hussein was arrested earlier this year with a dozen other women, most of whom paid a fine or were lashed. Western nations lodged complaints about the case. The human-rights group Amnesty International likened public floggings to “state-sponsored torture.’’
Again, I'm from a nation that engages in such practices and calls them legal, so....
Hussein, 43, said she hoped her case would spotlight the repressive treatment of women in Sudan.
I wonder when the UN is going to spotlight the plight of Palestinians, 'eh?
More than 100 female protesters rallied to her defense at the courthouse, some dressed in pants, shouting slogans such as, “There is no justice in Sudan!’’ Police arrested more than three dozen protesters and released them after the verdict was announced.
Sudanese women face widespread discrimination in the workplace, and there are few high-ranking female politicians. Even in southern Sudan, which is predominantly non-Muslim, women have faced arrest, discrimination, and attack for behaving or dressing in ways that were perceived by local authorities as immodest.
Gee, that's odd because the SOUTH is PRIMARILY CHRISTIAN!!!
How come the cudgel is only being waged vs. Muslims, 'eh?
As a UN employee, Hussein was entitled to immunity from prosecution, but she quit her job so the case would not be dismissed. She sent e-mail invitations to journalists and diplomats asking that they attend her sentencing....
Yeah, it is WHAT they call a TEST CASE so they can RAISE HELL in the legal system. We have gays doing it all the time here in AmeriKa.
The sentencing was twice postponed, reportedly in hopes that Hussein would agree to a settlement and international attention would fade. Hussein’s attorney said his client would appeal the verdict to the nation’s highest court....
Sudan’s government implements a conservative version of Islamic law in the north. Under public indecency laws, anyone committing an act or wearing clothing deemed indecent can be punished with a flogging or a fine, but lawyers and human rights groups say the law is too vague and arbitrary. In the capital the “public order’’ police enforce the laws, breaking up parties and scolding men and women who mingle in public.
In mostly Muslim northern Sudan, many women wear traditional flowing robes that also cover their hair, but it is also not uncommon for women to wear trousers, even though conservatives consider it immodest.
Amnesty International has called on the Sudanese government to withdraw the charges against Hussein and repeal the law which justifies such “abhorrent’’ penalties.
One wishes they would be so vociferous when it comes to the U.S. or Israeli governments, huh?
I guess dropping WMD on women and children isn't as bad as this, huh?
The group pointed to an incident in 2003 when eight women were flogged in public with plastic and wire whips, reportedly leaving permanent scars on the women. The women had been picnicking with male friends.
Look, I am NOT CALLING for women to be whipped; however, THIS is the PEOPLE of SUDAN'S BUSINESS!!!
Oh, yeah, btw, the MEAN OLD NASTY ISLAMIC COURT was LENIENT!
Also see latest related: African Safari: Clinton Skips Over Sudan
